Ana, I don't take these sort of threads to seriously but regard them as a bit of fun and am finding it interesting to find which names crop up.

Regarding bias, I agree that it is almost impossible to be objective and as I suggested in my previous post believe a lot of this is to do with the folk music a particular person got into. I live in North Wales but just of the top of my head, I can think of one person who would certainly include Stan Rogers, another who would certainly include Pete Seeger and one who is likey to include Woodie Guthrie and Ramblin Jack Elliot...

In my previous post I made a slightly more unusual suggestion that most have made even though I believe he (including the bands he played with) had a great influence on the direction of Irish Music. If I was to come onto personal influences, I also would have to mention:

The Clancey Brothers and Tommy Makem for being the first players of folk music that I listened to.

The Dubliners, especially Barney McKenna becuase listening to his playing was a major influence in me learning to play the tenor banjo and getting into the "traditional" side.

Oddly enough, even though I love Irish traditional music, the Chieftans had no effect on me.

Jon